Allright, I just loaded it up again to make sure I had my facts right. First of all, I don't have any information regarding why certain decisions were made, I can only comment on them from a gameplay standpoint as an end-user. Secondly, I have also not yet played through the whole game. With that said...

It plays like X-Com, it feels like X-Com and it's as addictive as X-Com. The issues mentioned here really do NOT yank me out of the game or change the feel of the game from the original in any significant way. For example, let's take trooper mortality.

The UFO Pedia explains that the medical bays on this world at this time are advanced enough that if enough of the brain is left intact, they can regrow a team member. However, this is a time-consuming process and is not always successful. The worst case scenario results in a patient with significantly impaired capacities. After playing for a while again this evening, I can confirm this. Soldiers still go down quickly when hit by Alien weaponry and I've had them show up after the mission requiring 40+ days to heal. I don't find it unrealistic that every time one of my soldiers is taken down, it's not an instant or unrecoverable kill given this technology. Your vehicles don't recover, but given how they explode when destroyed, it's not a stretch to imagine there's not much to recover in there. You buy another vehicle and move on.

I was doing well with missions on downed scouts, but my first mission to a downed fighter was quite an education. Between an alien melee-monster and some other nasties, I lost my entire team. As noted here, once that happens, they are gone. There's no one to bring the wounded or even just the remains back, so it's permanent. I should also mention that the way wounds are handled in combat is, IIRC, more detailed than the original X-Com as far as their effects and their ongoing need for stabilization.

This game is not easy (and I'm playing on the Easy level). New soldiers arrive as the nations of the world send them to you and this contributes frankly to the sense of trepidation whenever one of your existing soldiers is wounded (or in the case of losing an entire team, killed). Each recovering soldier is unavailable for duty and may be permanently impaired. Each dead soldier is gone and your remaining team is significantly smaller until the next recruit(s) arrive. I have felt pretty constantly a feeling of needing to conserve my men and avoid throwing them away. As they gain experience and improve, as with the original X-Com, your attachment to them grows.

I don't find the change in the design actually changes the gameplay experience. They tweaked it in one direction, but then tweaked a few other things to bring us back to much the same place we started in terms of the feel of mortality, danger and limited resources.

Moving on... I researched a new weapon technology and built some in my workshop and was able to sell them to gain more funds for my budget. I'm not sure where the idea that you can't sell what you build came from, but it seems to be false.

I would not be as concerned about this as you guys are, every time you hear about something that's a bit different. As far as I can tell, the developers had a very good understanding of what made X-Com outstanding. My $.02 from playing this, after playing the heck out of the original X-Com back in the day, is that it's the real deal.

Thanks for that Erik.I was originally against the no-death thing but after that explanation and the more I think about it, it does make sense.It is the future after all, anything is possible.X-commers seem as conservative as ASLer's when it come to change. I've got a couple of questions on gameplay though; can you go prone? And can you open doors without actually having to walk through it?They were my two annoyances with X-com.

_____________________________

Gen. Montgomery: "Your men don't salute much." Gen. Freyberg: "Well, if you wave at them they'll usually wave back."

Sounds good.... Could you throw in some things you *didn't* enjoy about the game (frusterating moments ect), er at least give a mini-reveiew score...Such as 1-100...What could you rate it?

Also, release the game and stop teasing us I got the feeling that you mostly wanted to hold the game over us while yelling "Haha, n00bz~ I've got the game and you don't...So there!!"

Since Erik is a representative of a company selling a game, with a contractual obligation to another company, I don't think he can offer a 'good / bad' type opinion. But he can offer facts, which he has done, which we shoud appreciate. :=)

One of the reviews commented that the trickle of replacement troops was extremely / frustratingly slow. Is that true?

I'm really hoping that I can re-create my human-tech only - human-wave tactics.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Allright, I just loaded it up again to make sure I had my facts right. First of all, I don't have any information regarding why certain decisions were made, I can only comment on them from a gameplay standpoint as an end-user. Secondly, I have also not yet played through the whole game. With that said...

It plays like X-Com, it feels like X-Com and it's as addictive as X-Com. The issues mentioned here really do NOT yank me out of the game or change the feel of the game from the original in any significant way. For example, let's take trooper mortality.

The UFO Pedia explains that the medical bays on this world at this time are advanced enough that if enough of the brain is left intact, they can regrow a team member. However, this is a time-consuming process and is not always successful. The worst case scenario results in a patient with significantly impaired capacities. After playing for a while again this evening, I can confirm this. Soldiers still go down quickly when hit by Alien weaponry and I've had them show up after the mission requiring 40+ days to heal. I don't find it unrealistic that every time one of my soldiers is taken down, it's not an instant or unrecoverable kill given this technology. Your vehicles don't recover, but given how they explode when destroyed, it's not a stretch to imagine there's not much to recover in there. You buy another vehicle and move on.

I was doing well with missions on downed scouts, but my first mission to a downed fighter was quite an education. Between an alien melee-monster and some other nasties, I lost my entire team. As noted here, once that happens, they are gone. There's no one to bring the wounded or even just the remains back, so it's permanent. I should also mention that the way wounds are handled in combat is, IIRC, more detailed than the original X-Com as far as their effects and their ongoing need for stabilization.

This game is not easy (and I'm playing on the Easy level). New soldiers arrive as the nations of the world send them to you and this contributes frankly to the sense of trepidation whenever one of your existing soldiers is wounded (or in the case of losing an entire team, killed). Each recovering soldier is unavailable for duty and may be permanently impaired. Each dead soldier is gone and your remaining team is significantly smaller until the next recruit(s) arrive. I have felt pretty constantly a feeling of needing to conserve my men and avoid throwing them away. As they gain experience and improve, as with the original X-Com, your attachment to them grows.

I don't find the change in the design actually changes the gameplay experience. They tweaked it in one direction, but then tweaked a few other things to bring us back to much the same place we started in terms of the feel of mortality, danger and limited resources.

Moving on... I researched a new weapon technology and built some in my workshop and was able to sell them to gain more funds for my budget. I'm not sure where the idea that you can't sell what you build came from, but it seems to be false.

I would not be as concerned about this as you guys are, every time you hear about something that's a bit different. As far as I can tell, the developers had a very good understanding of what made X-Com outstanding. My $.02 from playing this, after playing the heck out of the original X-Com back in the day, is that it's the real deal.

ORIGINAL: sage One of the reviews commented that the trickle of replacement troops was extremely / frustratingly slow. Is that true? I'm really hoping that I can re-create my human-tech only - human-wave tactics.

The replacements are slow, though I don't know what's factored in there (i.e if you have more bases and more nations under your protection, does the rate speed up?). It definitely is more of a feel where these are the best of the best and they just don't grow on trees. I know I will be doing my utmost to avoid another total team wipe as it takes a while to recover from. I am just at the point now of starting to arm up with laser rifles though, so I don't claim to know how things evolve as far as replacement rates, budget and options, but from what I've seen so far human-wave tactics will not be a good bet as far as keeping up with losses.

Thank you very much Eric for taking the time to play the game and address many concerns people are having over the recent flood of rumors. I for one have remained dedicated to trying the game and supporting it no matter what.

Thank you so much for that explanation. It makes me a very happy future customer. We are not worthy.

One question I have: I am not an immortal soldier purist and I enjoyed reloading during combat in XCOM if I got wiped out after making a bonehead mistake so as to not lose an entire team, etc. I got very attached to my peeps.

First of all thanks for the feedback Erik. As I stated somewhere in another thread, this kind of response is part of what Matrix a great source of games. Then on to UFO....

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins The UFO Pedia explains that the medical bays on this world at this time are advanced enough that if enough of the brain is left intact, they can regrow a team member. However, this is a time-consuming process and is not always successful. The worst case scenario results in a patient with significantly impaired capacities. After playing for a while again this evening, I can confirm this. Soldiers still go down quickly when hit by Alien weaponry and I've had them show up after the mission requiring 40+ days to heal. I don't find it unrealistic that every time one of my soldiers is taken down, it's not an instant or unrecoverable kill given this technology. Your vehicles don't recover, but given how they explode when destroyed, it's not a stretch to imagine there's not much to recover in there. You buy another vehicle and move on.

OK, that's an explanation of how this idea came into the game, but it still is a poor decision, specially given the new and more realistic situation in getting good replacements. I mean, honestly, I eat an alien rocket through the nose, the only "surviving" team member steps on my burning carcass on his back to the ship and enough of my brain sticks on his boot for me to rebuilt in 40 days. That just doesn't "do it" for me (the real life me that is ). I can live with this explanation, and have fewer KIA's based on better technology to recover injured soldiers from the battlefield and treat them at bases/hospitals, but to say "as soon as there is one soldier returning from a mission, all other soldiers on that mission will recover" is just over the top. Sorry. I understand there are others with other opinions, but please, please, please, at least provide an option for this game setting

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins I would not be as concerned about this as you guys are, every time you hear about something that's a bit different. As far as I can tell, the developers had a very good understanding of what made X-Com outstanding. My $.02 from playing this, after playing the heck out of the original X-Com back in the day, is that it's the real deal.

I hope you are right, but (and this is the grumpy old fart speaking), it's not the real deal if soldiers don't die (unless the whole squad is killed etc etc). Nevertheless, I'll bet I'll end up enjoying this anyhow

Mr. Rutins, thank you VERY VERY much for the information. It made me decide on wheter I should buy this game or not and your answers have taken away all doubt I had. Expect to see an order around the 4th. ;)

Now, if I may be so bold, I have one question: Can you rename your soldiers? A great feature in the entire Xcom series and I'm sure it is present in UFO:ET, but I just want to be sure. :)

ORIGINAL: owl208 One question I have: I am not an immortal soldier purist and I enjoyed reloading during combat in XCOM if I got wiped out after making a bonehead mistake so as to not lose an entire team, etc. I got very attached to my peeps. So, can you save and reload during combat like in XCOM UFO Defense?

ORIGINAL: Faenaris Now, if I may be so bold, I have one question: Can you rename your soldiers? A great feature in the entire Xcom series and I'm sure it is present in UFO:ET, but I just want to be sure. :)

Yes, you can certainly rename your soldiers.

Thanks for the questions and comments, everyone. I'm glad this gameplay feedback was helpful.

Can you adjust the firing speed and whether or not the camera centers on your shots all the time? If so, can it be done separately for your forces and the aliens?

Can you abort mission in the middle? If so, how does it work? Do your troops have to be inside the ship in order to abort (including incapacitated ones)? Can you carry incapacitated troops to the transport to save them?

Do the aliens use explosive grenades? If so, is it possible for them to completely annihilate an incapacitated soldier's body? (we've seen that grenades can destroy terrain, so I'm curious if they could destroy bodies as well)

ORIGINAL: Faenaris Now, if I may be so bold, I have one question: Can you rename your soldiers? A great feature in the entire Xcom series and I'm sure it is present in UFO:ET, but I just want to be sure. :)

Yes, you can certainly rename your soldiers.

Thanks for the questions and comments, everyone. I'm glad this gameplay feedback was helpful.

ORIGINAL: WKB Can you adjust the firing speed and whether or not the camera centers on your shots all the time? If so, can it be done separately for your forces and the aliens?

What exactly do you mean by firing speed? I haven't seen any options to change the camera centering. From the gameplay I've experienced, the camera by default seemed the same as what I remembered from the original X-Com, in that it centers on activity and follows shots. Granted, my memory is a bit hazy as the original was a while ago, but it felt identical.

quote:

Can you abort mission in the middle? If so, how does it work? Do your troops have to be inside the ship in order to abort (including incapacitated ones)? Can you carry incapacitated troops to the transport to save them?

Yes. There's a "Flee" button which causes your transport to take off and abandon the mission. Anyone on board goes with it, anyone who's not on board is left behind and considered MIA. I would assume incapacitated troops are lost, but I have not tried to Flee yet myself as my biggest two disasters unfolded quickly enough that my team was dead before I had a chance to retreat.

quote:

Do the aliens use explosive grenades? If so, is it possible for them to completely annihilate an incapacitated soldier's body? (we've seen that grenades can destroy terrain, so I'm curious if they could destroy bodies as well)

I don't know the answers to these yet, sorry. However, I've seen a variety of alien weaponry so my assumption would be that they do have some kind of explosive weapon, but I haven't run into it yet. No idea on whether a more explosive weapon would have any effect as far as destroying a corpse, but I have seen that more deadly weapons cause more critical wounds which in turn cause more serious recovery times (with associated increased risks). I just saw my first "Cruiser" in the brief time I had to play during lunch and didnt' manage to shoot it down. So far it's been scouts and fighters. The aliens did just take over one of the nations on the planet though, so I'll probably see a few more interesting things happen tonight.

ORIGINAL: evilferretvictim What about the option to set reserve AP (action/movement points)?

I haven't seen that yet or been able to figure out how to do it and I'd forgotten about that being in X-Com until you mentioned it. That would be a nice feature to have if it's not in there. However, whenever you move you not only see the active character's current AP shown on the bottom display, but the "box" that shows where you are moving to also displays how many APs it will take for the soldier to get there. Because of that, without using any reserve option, I haven't had any real trouble figuring out based on those how far I can move before my APs go too low for reactions or other fire.

ORIGINAL: sage Erik, can you comment on whether Morale is in the tactical game?

Well, the soldiers each have a "Bravery" stat, but so far I haven't seen them panic. I have seen them paralyzed with fear by a certain type of alien and that appears to be based on their bravery as far as how susceptible they are, but I can't say I've seen much beyond that yet.

ORIGINAL: evilferretvictim Sounds good.... Could you throw in some things you *didn't* enjoy about the game (frusterating moments ect), er at least give a mini-reveiew score...Such as 1-100...What could you rate it?

I haven't played enough to rate it yet and besides even if I did, I doubt most folks would believe me.

However, it seems to be a good re-make of X-Com and it does not diverge from it in any drastic ways that I can find. It feels very familiar even though I haven't played X-Com in years and it has the same fun quality. I'm not far enough in to really get a sense of how the game will evolve, what events will happen, what the storyline on this new planet is vs. the original, etc. However, the only thing so far I haven't been a fan of is the intro movie.

I also saw someone mention on another site about no autopsies. If I understand that comment correctly, that's false. I recovered several alien bodies and was able to set my researchers to work on them, just as in the original. Once research was complete, I had a new entry regarding those aliens in my UFOPedia explaining their abilities and in two cases that research triggered new research options relating to what we'd learned from dissecting the aliens.

Thought I should also mention here what I'd commented on earlier regarding copy protection. Our release will come with our standard serial number protection. It's a very user-friendly NON-DRM system. You can download the game, burn it to a CD for a backup copy, run it on your laptop as well as your desktop, etc.

First Erik thank you for taking the time to post about what seems to be shaping up to be a very cool game for us X-Com fans. Secondly can you commnet on the types of missions they have for example in X-Com we had the Terror Mission, UFO Recovery, and such. Thirdly can you share your copy of the game with the rest of us or at the very least me

Mr. Rutins, I once again want to thank you for your time. I can imagine you are a very busy man, so, two thumbs up from little old me. :)

I'm afraid I have to burden you with another question, but it was something that made me wonder. At the official forums (which are a mess to be honest, at least, the English section is), I read a post that claimed that you couldn't build extra bases. Or, to be precise, you could build new bases, but they would be very limited (only hangars and defence systems). Surely, this statement is false?